QuickGene Beta 0.7 Brings You an In-line Calculator and Cleaner Maps

The latest QuickGene update, released today, bumps the version number up to 0.7 and brings with it the customary list of improvements and additions. Most notably, we have introduced an in-line calculator that calculates the molecular weight and melting temperature of any selected sequence. This happens on-the-fly, while you make the selection, helping you create the perfect primers! This is our first step toward primer design and PCR tools and you can certainly expect more to come.

In the meantime, we continue to improve the cloning tools and have made some major changes to the maps. The design is cleaner and more organized and label placement is much more logical. Furthermore, we have added the often requested enzyme highlighting function. Holding the mouse over any enzyme in a map now not only displays its information but also highlights all other occurrences of that enzyme's recognition site. The first speed optimizations have also been added, making map navigation smoother and more useful. We will continue to add speed optimizations in the coming updates.

The full list of changes in the 0.7 update is as follows:

New features

Replaced design for the linear and circular maps, reducing clutter and improving readability and performance.

Added highlighting of all occurrences of a restriction enzyme cleavage site when hovering the mouse pointer over one in the maps.

Added a quick overview of statistical information, including melting temperature and molecular weight, when selecting a range in the editor.

Added cursor position indicator to map views.

Changes

Improved stability on Windows 7.

Improved integration into Mac OS X.

Changed label positioning in maps to be more logical.

Added first speed optimizations to the map view.

Added file-type support and opening QuickGene from Finder for Mac OS X.

Fixed QuickGene being killed when pressing Command + Q on Mac OS X. This now shuts it down neatly, requesting to save if unsaved changes are present.

Fixed the cursor being placed incorrectly when clicking on an enzyme in a sequence. It is now placed at the cleavage site.

Fixed freezes when sorting features in the sidebar.

Fixed the problem in Mac OS X when opening a project from Finder would cause an open project to be closed.

Fixed the problem that translation view options were not remembered correctly between sessions.